CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 310 km round trip from Erlensee - roughly 5 h 06 in the saddle. It goes by way of Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber, Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the, Watchtower WP 3/4* and Limessection between watchtowers WP 2/13 a. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 33 km this is German Fairy Tale Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
East of Frankfurt, on the low ground where the Kinzig valley opens toward Hanau, the Romans pushed their frontier forward in the late first century AD. Rückingen, today a part of Erlensee, was the site of a fort with a civil settlement around it, part of the Wetterau section of the Upper German-Raetian Limes, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Limes here ran south toward the Main, and the forts guarded crossings and roads leading into the Roman province. As with most of the frontier in this area, there is little to see above ground, but the line of the Limes is marked and explained along cycle and walking routes.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge is where the day begins. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber.
Friedberg's castle stands on a basalt ridge above the Wetterau, a walled enclosure so large it is almost a town of its own, with a tall round tower, the Adolfsturm, rising above the trees. What most visitors walking through the castle gate do not know is that they are standing on a Roman fort. The legions chose this same ridge in the first century AD, and a fort with a civil settlement grew up here, linked by road to the Limes a few kilometres to the north and west.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber comes up about 33 km into the recorded legs. Next is Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the.
High in the Taunus hills northwest of Frankfurt, the Upper German Limes runs along the main ridge, and here, between Glashütten and Schmitten, a series of watchtower sites and the remains of a small fort follow the frontier through dense beech and spruce forest. The bank and ditch of the Limes are still clearly visible, winding over the hills like a long scar, and the area is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site. Nearby, on the Kleiner Feldberg, lie the remains of a Roman fort, and a few kilometres east, the Saalburg near Bad Homburg is a fully reconstructed fort with a museum, the best place in Germany to imagine life on the frontier.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 74 km into the recorded legs you reach Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the. Next is Watchtower WP 3/4*.
In the western Taunus, between Bad Schwalbach and Taunusstein, the forest is thick and the hills roll gently, and the Upper German Limes runs along the ridge here as a still visible bank and ditch. The site labelled Watchtower WP 3/4 is one of the many small posts along this section, and a few kilometres to the east, near Taunusstein-Orlen, the fort of Zugmantel guarded a crossing of the frontier on an old trade route into Germanic territory. These remains are part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage site, and a walk along the Limes trail through the forest here is peaceful and atmospheric.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/4* write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Watchtower WP 3/4*, about halfway. Next is Limessection between watchtowers WP 2/13 a.
Up on the plateau of the Hintertaunus, north of the Rhine gorge, the Roman frontier crossed a quiet landscape of fields and forest near Singhofen, and a section of it between two watchtowers survives here as a faint bank and ditch running through the woods. This is the Upper German Limes, which ran for more than five hundred kilometres from the Rhine to the Danube, marking the boundary between the Roman Empire and the free Germanic tribes from the second century until the Romans withdrew in the third. It was not a great wall like Hadrian's in Britain, but a line of watchtowers, forts and a timber palisade, later strengthened with a ditch and bank. Together with the Raetian Limes, it was listed by UNESCO in 2005.
Read the complete Limessection between watchtowers WP 2/13 a write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Limessection between watchtowers WP 2/13 a sits at 138 km, about halfway. Next is back through Watchtower WP 3/4*.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtower WP 3/4* write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Watchtower WP 3/4* comes up about 193 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 235 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the. Next is back through Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber, late in the day. Next is Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 310 km.
Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge → Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber → Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the → Watchtower WP 3/4* is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Watchtower WP 3/4* → Limessection between watchtowers WP 2/13 a is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Limessection between watchtowers WP 2/13 a → back through Watchtower WP 3/4* is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtower WP 3/4* → back through Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Watchtowers WP 3/45 to 3/52 including the → back through Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort site and civil settlement of Friedber → Fort site and civil settlement of Rückinge is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.